Woke up this morning at 7:40am (we realized that the Hostel will still have
croissants and cereal by then... and we could no longer make ourselves wake up
at 6:45am) .... anyways, we got our three c's in this morning (coffee, cereal,
croissants) and then got ready to head to Saint Chapelle and then we planned to
catch the train to Vernon to see Claude Monet's gardens.

Meredith flooded the shower this morning :) Haha, it is definitely funnier
hearing that the shower flooded, versus flooding the shower and spending the
next 20 minutes soaking up the floor.

And something I haven't mentioned ... But everyday Meredith and I put the "Do
not Disturb and Thanks for NOT cleaning our room today" sign on our door ... and
everyday we come back to a cleaned room with our beds made. (And I double
checked and made sure that the sign did not say "Thanks for CLEANING our room"
and it doesn't) .... Regardless our room gets cleaned everyday... And I mean she
actually makes our beds with our sleep sacks perfectly mixed in with the sheets.

The only thing is we don't get new towels everyday. But we really needed new
towels because now BOTH towels had been dirtied by wiping up the flooded
bathroom .... so ... being the charming person I am :) When we left today I left
a sign on my bed that said "Thank You/Merci" along with a KitKat bar for the
cleaning lady ... and guess what! WE GOT NEW TOWELS! :D

But back to our day ... The church opened at 9:30am, and we were walking there
so we left at 8:50am. Meredith and I can get around without a map now too :) We
stopped at a market and bought new water (it is so cheap here! less that $1 for
a 1.5 liter bottle of Evian) and some grapes for lunch. We got to St. Chapelle
around 9:40am, and there was already a little line ... Louise (our bike tour
director) told us that Jesus's thorns had been on display at the church (as to
why we were going) .... However, unfortunately they were not. We are thinking
they may had been an exhibit at some time or that Louise had just been mistaken.
Regardless, the church had beautiful stain glass windows. And I mean about 30
of them. There actually were not any windows other than stain glassed ones. So
I would say it was a worth it.

We didn't stay at the church very long, because we had to get to the train
station to catch the 12:20pm train to Vernon. And today was also the first day
we were using our global train pass :) So we had to plan for that, because you
have to go to a ticket booth and get it validated and have an official write the
valid dates on the pass.

We left the church at 11:10am and headed to Saint Lazarne (the train station)
.... and it was a hike! It was especially tedious because we both had our
backpacks packed with water and lunch. We also hadn't been in the area by the
train station yet, so we were unfamiliar with the roads...

We ended up getting to the train station right around noon and had to get in
line to speak with a train official. The line (thankfully) went fast! And we
got our tickets validated at 12:10pm and ran to catch the train! The next train
to Vernon left at 2:20pm and with it being an hour train ride, would have left
us with zero time to enjoy the gardens.

I was really nervous using our passes, because I wasn't really sure how they
worked. But we just luckily found two seats next to each other, because the
train was absolutely packed! And no one ever even came around to check our
tickets!

We got off at the Vernon train station (it was about a 50 minute train ride) and
followed the little footsteps on the ground that said "Giverny" to a bus that
would take us to the gardens. The bus was absolutely packed as well! By the
time that Meredith and I got on the bus, standing was the only option. The bus
driver was trying to explain to Meredith that if we wanted to take this bus we
would have to stand ... but of course she was telling her this in all french.
Meredith just stared at her like a deer in headlights. But thankfully a nice
lady translated for us :) And then we were off to Giverny.

The bus ride was horrible. It was extremely hot and you were shoulder to
shoulder with other people. But luckily it was only about 20 mins. By the time
we got off the bus it was about 2pm. And no lunch + hot bus ride = two CRANKY
girls. So Meredith and I just found the nearest bench and prepared lunch. We
ate like kings again, with our peanut butter and apple sandwiches and water ...
I dropped a chunk of my apple into the dirt and I also picked it up and said 5
second rule ... but we are not THAT poor... yet.

After eating we got in line to get into Claude Monet's Gardens. We only had a
little over an hour before we had to get a bus back to make the 5:30pm train
back to Paris, so I was a little skeptical of even entering the gardens. But
Meredith insisted that there was enough time... and good thing she did!

The line moved rather fast and 4.5 euros later I was looking at the most
beautiful gardens I have ever seen. While Versailles was beautiful too, it was
mainly designed and shaped bushes but Monet's Gardens were just flowers upon
flowers. There was just so many colors and vines ... it was magical. My camera
definitely proved it worth, and I got some amazing pictures! We went through
the main gardens and then headed to the water gardens. That were full of
bamboos, weeping willows, and water lilies. It was just amazing. I can
definitely see how Monet was so inspired by them.

Although the gardens were beautiful they were also packed! And we wanted to
make sure that we got on the early train back to Paris. So Meredith and I left
Giverny and headed back to the bus stop. We caught a bus within 10 minutes and
it was air conditioned! We also got seats this time... so it was excellent!

We got to the train station about and hour and a half before the next train, but
we just sat on the bench and listened to our iPods. Meredith also caught up on
her journal.

Oh something else I forgot to mention. We have a travel calendar that we have
to fill out as part of our pass.. And Meredith and I can never find the train
numbers to write down. We put down the correct times, departure place and
destination but I swear the trains are not numbered! So we just made up a number
to put in and decided to play the dumb American (not doing anything to help the
stereotype) if it causes any issues.

The train eventually came and Meredith and I were the first ones on! And back to
Paris we went! I have really enjoyed taking our day trips the last two days, it
was nice to get outside the city for a while, because it feels more like home,
which is nice.

Something that has became an annoyance is our shoes! Although we both only
brought comfortable shoes, the amount of walking that we have been doing is just
hard on your feet. Meredith made the point that her shoes have gave her
blisters on her soles, while her other pair, rubs the tops of her feet. Haha,
so she has to choose between the lesser pain of the two. Even my Birkenstocks
(that I SWEAR by) have made my feet sore ... not to mention the funky tan lines
I have on my feet from them right now.

We arrived back to Paris around 7pm and hopped right on the metro towards our
hostel.

Which reminds me... I wanted to mention all of the different transportation
Meredith and I have used since arriving to Europe.

So here is my example:
Within the first 10 hours of being in Europe Meredith and I ... took a plane to
the train, to the bus, to the tram, to the eurostar train, to the tube, to the
train, to a taxi.

And since we have also taken the metro, bikes and boat ferry :)
The next means of transportation we want to use are those bicyclists that pull
around the little carriages :D

Back to today .... we got off at Saint Jaques and went to our traditional
grocery store. But none of the food sounded appetizing ... not even our staple
cheese dip and baguette. We really wanted some type of pasta, but had no means
of cooking it. So we decided to live up our last night in Paris and go out to
dinner. We went to a little Pizzeria, by our hostel. We split the Vegetarian
pizza and stuffed spinach ravioli ... both dishes were very good. Definitely a
nice break from PB&J and croissants.

We then went to the grocery store and got some coffee ice cream to split. We
then realized that we ate everything that we were going to be eating in Florence
(pizza, pasta & gelato) ... but we justified it saying that we were going to
compare to see which one was better... And although Paris's italian food was
good... and I am betting that Italy's Italian food will be better!

We were going to go see the Louvre tonight all lite up. But it was about 9pm by
the time that we got back to the hostel. We have been going all day and really
need to pack everything to check out by 9am. We are also definitely going to be
at the Louvre tomorrow morning to hopefully get in and see Mona Lisa :) I hear
it is disappointing because it is so small and behind glass, but you can't go to
Paris and not see the Mona Lisa! And tomorrow is free admission :) So we are
planning on getting there extra early!

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris. We have a night train leaving at 6:52pm from
Paris-Bercy and next stop is Florence Italy! :D Which we should arrive around
7:30am, and then we have a bike tour that afternoon!

I cannot believe how fast this is all flying by!
-brooke.